Waga inoru koto wa hitotsu zo amanogawa sora ni shirite mo tagaezaranan - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が祈ることは一つぞ天の川
そらに知りても違へざらなん

Roma-ji: Waga inoru koto wa hitotsu zo amanogawa sora ni shirite mo tagaezaranan
English Translation: What I pray for now
is a single thing alone;
River of Heaven,
even guessing from the sky,
do not fail to grant my wish.
Meaning: There is only one thing I pray for. O River of Heaven, even if you only guess it from up in the sky, please do not fail me.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 154

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet's prayer on the night of Tanabata is a single one, and he asks the two stars of the River of Heaven to divine it from the sky and grant it without fail. Against the background of the custom of making wishes to the stars at Tanabata, the poem entrusts a single-minded wish to heaven.

First line, "waga inoru," means "what I pray."
Second line, "koto wa hitotsu zo," means "is but one thing." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "amanogawa," addresses the River of Heaven, meaning the two stars there. The poems on the River of Heaven that began with 143 of this book come to a close here.
Fourth line, "sora ni shirite mo," is a pivot word in which "sora" means both the sky and guessing without firm grounds.
Final line, "tagaezaranan," means "please do not fail me," with "nan" as a particle expressing a wish directed at another. It closes the Tanabata sequence that began with 142 of this book with a prayer from someone on earth.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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